Dispensing refrigerator for artificial insemination



Nov. 30, 1954 M. M. HORNISH 2,695,729

DISPENSING REFRIGERATOR FOR ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION Filed Feb. 27, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

NOV. 30, 1954 HORNlsH 2,695,729

DISPENSING REFRIGERATOR FOR ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION Fil ed Feb. 27, 1951 s Sheets-Sheet s I I I 20 -fi :9 I

i v H1 U k 27 INVENTOR.

United States Patent O DISPENSING REFRIGERATOR FOR ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION :i'Mars ..M.' Hornish,-'El'gin, 'IlL, assignor to flhe Curtiss nCandy Company, "Ghicago, =Ill., a corporation of .Jllinois ApplicationFbruary. 27, 1951, Serial.N0..212,979

2"Claims. '(Cl. 221- 79) Theimportanceofartificial insemination .to the dairy industry :has -.long .:been. recognized. With artificial .iniseminatiom; a much smaller number of bulls .will suflice for the. entire industry. Furthermore, the bulls whose offspring are .determinedto have exceptional qualities iznray 'be much more widely .used.

IBest-ipractice requires that for any herd of cows at least three bulls .be used. This might be said to be Ldesirable for avoiding the dangers of inbreeding. Exspressed.lessnegatively, it is tobeable to bring-into the herd the most desirable qualities from several" lines.

"A veterinarian in acommunity or women a large i dairy farm with herds of various breeds needs to carry g-semen from a large'number of bulls. For-example,'he HiS qUitBJIikBIY to have call for artificial insemination of seven'breedsand it is desirable for him to'havesemen will be apparent fromthe description arid-from the drawings.

Designation of figures -Figurc 1..is..a. perspective view-'of the refrigerating r dispenser .chosenfordllustration. of this invention; show- 1 ing fragmentarily the .outer.insulatedrcarryingl k-itaastwell.

Figure 2 is a view..looking..down 'on thel top of ithe Lrefrigerating dispenser of. .Figure 1.

Figure-3 is .a vertical ..cross-sectional view' taken. approximately-I. on the line. 3-.-3..of Figure. 2.

Figure '4 .is a view. lookingdown. on the bodyof the .rotor,:being a. sectional viewapproximately on-the-line 4-4 .;of Figure 3.

:Figllre :15v is..a. view. looking .down ou the body of fthe refrigerating. dispenser, .the .coveraand rotorrbeing removed.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a vial holder forming part of the rotor, with a fragment of its supporting disk.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating one of the release mechanisms.

Although the law requires a full and exact description of at least one form of the invention, such as that which follows, it is, of course, the purpose of a patent to cover each new inventive concept therein no matter how it may later be disguised by variations in form or additions of further improvements; and the appended claims are intended to accomplish this purpose by particularly pointing out the parts, improvements, or combinations in which the inventive concepts are found.

General description According to the present invention, a refrigerating dispenser 11 is preferably carried within an insulating case 12, being secured therein by brackets 13 which may, for example, cooperate with a stud and thumb screw on the carrying case 12. It may be noted that the carrying case 12 may resemble a suitcase or large toolbox and has space for other equipment needed by the veterinarian.

not a rotorgor rackwhich may be turned by.handle.24.

.ating .dispenser 11. preferably. of an insulative type.

2,695,729 "*"Patetxted. Nov. .30, 1954 ice .For example, there. is preferably artube-like case. formaintaining in .clean :or sterile condition the .msemmation stubes, this casepreferablybeingiprovided with means for dispensinga tubeata time without exposing the others to contamination.

Thepresent invention relates mainly .touthc refriger- .The walls for this dispenser are For example, :as seen bestin Fig. 3, outer wall. 14 and inner'wall 16 may form -aspace between .themfilled-with insulating material17. Thewalls 14 and 16 may be of. stainless steel or other easily cleaned material; wAcover 18 maybe provided audit is. preferablyformedof aplasticof low heat conductivity. The cover 18-.has a large. opening19, through which ice cubes'maybe droppedinto the refrigerating dispenser. The: hole 19 is. normally closed by astopper 121,.which may be of rubber or other material of 1ow.heat

. conductivity.

The vials 22 which may ,beof two sizes, as illustrated, are carriedin vialholders or tubes 23 which formpart Thehandle 24 is mounted on a shaft 26, which at its bottom carries. a disk 27. To the disk 27 arerigidly secured the various vial tubesl23. Thesetubes may .be

nature-1a little: above "freezing Without exposing them :to

theiwater which naturally accumulates as the ice melts'and which: is \desirablein .any' event for ensuring good heat "transfer cbetweenrthe :ice .and the parts to be cooled.

."If'the vialswere stationarily disposed, their coolingmight :becrelatively simple. .iHowever, toincrease the length of .itimeiduring which .the. semen mayxbe kept'safely with a -.given quantityrof ice,rit is-desirable to haveonly two .copenings 28 iforthe removal of thevials and accordingly .the' vials .i-are' rotatively. mounted so that each .of them 'rnay be positionedadjacent'one or'the other of theopenlllgS. 28. The openings.28*are..normally' closed by stop- :rpers :ofrubberwor'other material oflow heat conductivity.

"Thewillustratedmethod .of maintaining the rotatively "mounted vials at a desiredntemperatnreihas proved quite satisfactory- .-Although these vialsneed not themselves r belexposed to water, thetnbular holders '23iextend well down into the'well31-ofbowl 32,-which may be partially filledv-with' water or not, depending ou the temperature conditions or preferences of the veterinarian. In the suma mer time, it will ordinarily'be preferredthat thewell 31 be"partia'lly filled withwater, sayto the level indicated in Fig. 3. The-metal tubes23 extending down into this :Water will have a temperature-throughout close tothe 1 temperatureof thewater and hence will m'aintain the vials 22 at such temperature.

*The well31-preferably=extends down to a connecting tube" 33=to=a-base portion 34. The iceand water admitted thI'OlIgh the-cover openings 19 will surround the'tube 33 and cover the base 34, thusthoroughly chilling. thetwater therein.

As seen in Figs. 1 and 5, a drain tube 36 extends through the side wall of the refrigerating dispenser 11 and through the side wall of the outer carrying case 12. This tube 36 is preferably plastic so that there will not be any great heat conduction through it. Its cap 37 may be removed to drain water from the refrigerating dispenser. Ordinarily, water within the well 31 may be left there, but at times it may be desired to drain this water and for that purpose a pet cock 38 is provided. This drains into the main body of the refrigerating dispenser 11 from which the water may be drained through tube 36.

Whenever the water in Well 31 has been allowed to get too warm, it would be desirable to drain this water so as to replace it with water of the right temperature. Likewise, some veterinarians will prefer to drain the water from the well 31 in the wintertime when the kit will ordinarily be exposed to freezing and sometimes very cold temperatures. Cold water will nevertheless be desired in the ice Well 20 to keep the semen vials from getting too cold.

3 v To facilitate cleaning the parts, the bowl 32 may be removable, in which case it may be held in position by spring clips 39. Unless the construction is such as to hold the bowl 32 away from the drain tube 36, a groove 41 may be provided in the side of the bowl 32 to ensure ready flow of water from the ice well 20 to the tube 36.

Although each of the vials 22 will usually be labeled, it is highly desirable that some indicating means be provided so that the veterinarian may readily turn any desired vial to lie under one of the openings 28. Probably about the simplest form of indicating means is that illustrated best in Fig. 2. The handle 24 is provided with a pointer 42 which points to indicia on the cover 18 or on panels secured to the cover. Thus the pointer 42 has been shown pointing to numeral 1 in the Jersey panel. It will be observed that this panel is on the inner circle of panels.

' This means that the vial of semen from bull No. 1 of the Jersey breed is positioned under the inner opening 28. When the pointer 42 points to one of the numbers in the outer circle of panels, it indicates which vial is under the other of apertures 28. If preferred, the indicia panels may be mounted to rotate with the rotor. In that event,

' the indicia panels may be above the cover, in which case they may be disposed to lie adjacent the aperture 28 when the indicated vial is under that aperture. Alternatively, the indicia panels may be located beneath the .cover 18, in which case a particular indicium may be visible through a window when the indicated vial is under one of the openings 28.

To aid the veterinarian to remove a vial from its holder,

each vial is preferably spring actuated and normally held in place by a releasable latch. Thus, as seen in Fig. 3, the vials 22 are urged upwardly by springs 43 and are restrained from upward movement by spring clips 44. These clips may restrain the vials frictionally or by lying over a shoulder of the vial. T release the spring clip, one or the other of the buttons 46 and 47 is pressed. Thus the button 46 will release the clip of the vial under the outer opening 28 while the button 47 will release the clip under the inner opening 28. Any suitable means may be provided for enabling the buttons to release the latches. As a matter of fact, in one model, the buttons were positioned adjacent the openings 28 and were merely the top portions of plungers which thrust directly against the latches. It is believed that more uniformly satisfactory release action would be provided by a more refined releasing device, such as that seen in Fig. 7. Thus the button 47 may press one end of a crank 48 which is pivotally secured to the cover 18 by brackets 49. At the other end of crank 48, a pin 51 forming part of the cranked lever is pressed down to actuate the latch 44. A return spring 50, extending from a pin on lid 18, biases crank 48 in the return direction.

It is desirable for the veterinarian to be able to determine. readily the approximate temperature of the vials. To this end, a thermometer 53, preferably of the dial type, as shown, may be provided. The bulb 54 of this thermometer has been shown as exposed to the air space in which the vial tubes 23 are located. Although the thermometer may often show a temperature a little higher than the actual temperature of the vials, it will nevertheless enable the veterinarian to know when the danger point is being approached. If desired, a tube similar to vial tubes 23 may be placed around the therrnometer bulb 54 and extended down into the water into which the vial tubes 23 extend. In this way the thermometer may be made to indicate the vial temperatures more accurately.

The bowl 32 may be of any desired height so long as it extends above the bottoms of vial tubes 23. Preferably it extends well above this level so that water at this level will not splash out readily. The bowl 32 may be open at its top, the sides converging at their top portions to minimize loss of water by splashing. As shown, splashing may be reduced further by a partition 56 extending in from the outer bowl wall and down. If it extends to the bottom of the storage space, large apertures 57 are provided to allow the water to circulate.

For convenience, the different breeds may appear on panels of different colors, as'indicated; I

I claim as my invention:

1. In a dispensing container having an insulated, watertight shell and a rack adapted to hold the units to be dispensed mounted therein, the combination of a temperature modulating unit positioned beneath said rack comprising a hollow container adapted .to position a column of water beneath said rack, a space surrounding said hollow container adapted tocontain ice; said rack including metallic tubular .members surrounding said units and extending therebelow to a position within said temperature modulating unit at a level below a level at which the column of water may be maintained. 7

2. In a dispensing container having an insulated, watertight shell with a removable lid and a rack adapted to hold the units to be dispensed rigidly aflixed to the lower end of a rotatable shaft extending vertically through said lid, the combination of at least one set of receptacles each adapted to hold one unit borne by said rack at spaced intervals surrounding said shaft, the receptacles in each set being equidistant from said shaft, a spring positioned at the bottom of each receptacle to bias upwardly a unit placed in said receptacle, a lock positioned at the top of each receptacle to hold said unit within said receptacle, release means extending through said lid to release said lock, and an opening in said lid for each set of receptacles the same distance from said shaft as its associated set of receptacles through which to insert and remove units in said receptacles.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 969,747 Clay Sept. 6, 1910 1,013,795 May Jan. 2,1912 1,275,655 Boye 1 Aug. 13, 1918 1,505,441 Smith Aug. 19, 1924 1,633,588 Klinenbe'rg June 28, 1927 1,732,359 Gilmore Oct. 22, 1929 1,741,563 Graham Dec. 31, 1929 1,979,785 Wroten Nov. 6, 1934 2,028,926 Seeger Jan. 28,1936 2,155,502 McMurray Apr. 25, 1939 2,218,317 Parker Oct. 15, 1940 2,308,989 Melchert Jan. 19,1943 

